Braunfels

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coat of arms Germany map
Coat of arms of the city of Braunfels
Braunfels
Map of Germany, position of the city of Braunfels highlighted

Coordinates: 50 ° 31 '  N , 8 ° 23'  E

Basic data
State : Hesse
Administrative region : to water
County : Lahn-Dill district
Height : 248 m above sea level NHN
Area : 47.29 km 2
Residents: 10,934 (Dec. 31, 2019)
Population density : 231 inhabitants per km 2
Postal code : 35619
Primaries : 06442,
06445 (Neukirchen) ,
06472 (Altenkirchen) ,
06473 (Tiefenbach)Template: Infobox municipality in Germany / maintenance / area code contains text
License plate : LDK, DIL
Community key : 06 5 32 003
LOCODE : DE 229
NUTS : DE722
City structure: 6 districts

City administration address : 		Hüttenweg 3
35619 Braunfels
Website : www.braunfels.de
Mayor : Christian Breithecker ( independent )
Location of the city of Braunfels in the Lahn-Dill district
Dietzhölztal Haiger Eschenburg Siegbach Dillenburg Breitscheid (Hessen) Driedorf Greifenstein (Hessen) Bischoffen Herborn Sinn (Hessen) Mittenaar Hohenahr Ehringshausen Aßlar Lahnau Wetzlar Hüttenberg (Hessen) Solms Leun Braunfels Schöffengrund Waldsolms Nordrhein-Westfalen Rheinland-Pfalz Landkreis Marburg-Biedenkopf Landkreis Gießen Wetteraukreis Hochtaunuskreis Landkreis Limburg-Weilburgmap
About this picture
Braunfels districts
Aerial photograph 2007
Braunfels Castle - Excerpt from the Topographia Hassiae by Matthäus Merian 1655

Braunfels is a climatic health resort and a city in the Lahn-Dill district in central Hesse .

Braunfels is known for its castle , which has been the seat of the Counts of Solms since the 13th century .

geography

Geographical location

The city of Braunfels is located in the eastern Hintertaunus at an altitude of about 240 meters, 2 km south of the Lahn valley , 10 km west of the district town of Wetzlar .

climate

The annual precipitation is 752 mm. The precipitation is in the middle third of the values ​​recorded in Germany. Lower values ​​are registered at 52% of the measuring stations of the German Weather Service . The driest month is February, with the most rainfall in December. In December there is 1.5 times more rainfall than in February. Precipitation varies only minimally and is extremely evenly distributed over the year. Lower seasonal fluctuations are recorded at only 3% of the measuring stations .

Neighboring communities

Braunfels borders the city of Leun in the north-west, the city of Solms in the north, the community Schöffengrund in the east, the community Waldsolms in the southeast (all in the Lahn-Dill district), in the south with the community Weilmünster and in the west with the City of Weilburg and the community of Löhnberg (all three in the Limburg-Weilburg district ).

City structure

The city of Braunfels is divided into six districts. In addition to the core city (6525), these are Tiefenbach (1065) to the northwest and Bonbaden (1512) and Neukirchen (634) to the southeast. In the south are Philippstein (997) and Altenkirchen (778) (population figures in brackets, as of December 31, 2018).

history

middle Ages

The town and castle of Braunfels were first mentioned in 1246. Possibly also 1245, this is not clearly visible on the original of the document.

Braunfels Castle , which emerged from a fortress built in the 13th century against the Counts of Nassau , served as the residential castle of the Braunfels line of the Lords of Solms from around 1260 . After the destruction of Solms Castle by the Rhenish Association of Cities in 1384, Braunfels Castle became the new ancestral seat of the Counts of Solms. In the more than 750-year history of the former castle, numerous renovations have taken place. The heraldic animal of the Counts of Solms - a rising lion in the colors blue and yellow - is preserved in the city arms.

Below the castle, three valley settlements arose in the 13th and 14th centuries, which were fortified and grouped around the core castle as a kind of outer bailey. The valley and Vordertal lay within the city walls in the south, and Hintertal in the north and east outside the walls.

Historical forms of names

In documents that have been preserved, Braunfels was mentioned under the following place names (the year it was mentioned in brackets):

  • Brunenvelsz (1245) [ Cop . XV. Jh. Lich, Red Book, cf. on this Solms documents 1 p. XII. Illustration in: Tiefenbacher Chronik p. 13]
  • Brunevels (1300)
  • Brunfels (1428)
  • Brunenfelße, to (1430–1431)
  • Brunenfelsche (1453)
  • Brunenfels (1453)
  • Brunffels (1479)
  • Braunfels (15th century)

Modern times

Reformation up to the Thirty Years War

Municipal law has Braunfels since 1607. In the Thirty Years' War Braunfels five times occupied by enemy troops. The population decimated by 50% due to famine and plague. In the end, the Reformation prevailed in Braunfels as in the entire Lahn and Dill area.

Thirty Years' War until the end of the 18th century

The conflagration of 1679 destroyed large parts of the city and the castle, which had been converted into a baroque palace. The castle was then rebuilt and expanded using the existing building fabric; The regular marketplace with its surrounding streets was added to the city, which lies in front of the city walls and is still preserved today. Numerous half-timbered houses were built in the course of the reconstruction at the end of the 17th and 18th centuries.

The city also benefited from the expansion of the castle into a princely residence in the 18th century. Guilds were formed and there was an economic boom.

19th century to the end of the First World War

The Reichsdeputationshauptschluss 1803 ended the territorial independence of the Princes of Solms. The possessions fell to the Duchy of Nassau and with the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to the Kingdom of Prussia , whose history Braunfels also shared.

During the March Revolution of 1848, thousands of revolutionary-minded citizens from the surrounding towns carried out a storm on Braunfels on March 18 , which was put down on April 15 with the help of the Prussian military. Nevertheless, the courts in Braunfels and Ehringshausen were subordinated to the district court on April 26th and the Wetzlar district administrator Anton Kessler took over the government in Braunfels on May 6th.

In the 19th century and in the first half of the 20th century, iron ore mining was intensively practiced on Braunfels territory , see list of mines in the Lahn-Dill area .

On January 27, 1879, the Braunfels volunteer fire brigade was founded . As a result, she and the two volunteer fire brigades Weilburg and Obertiefenbach formed the Oberlahn extinguishing district in the Fire Brigade Association for the Wiesbaden district , within which they celebrated their association festival for the first time on August 3, 1890 in Obertiefenbach.

Around the middle of the 19th century, Braunfels was expanded into a spa town . From a milk cure institute and a Kneipp bath, the spa facilities that still exist today were gradually built .

Weimar Republic and National Socialism

In the first half of the 20th century, Braunfels shared the problems of global economic and political development (inflation and unemployment in the Weimar Republic , propaganda-based employment programs under National Socialism , and evacuated and bombed families being placed in emergency quarters during World War II ).

Since the end of World War II

Reconstruction began after 1950. In 1957 the city, which has been called a climatic health resort since 1961 , celebrated its 700th anniversary, which had to be postponed in 1946 due to the post-war era. New infrastructural facilities, residential areas and sports facilities emerged in the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1981, the town of Braunfels, was awarded the European Prize awarded for their outstanding efforts to European integration thoughts. Further ratings for nature conservation and family friendliness followed. Since 1994, two years before the 750th anniversary celebrations, the medieval festival Spektakulum has existed as a nationally advertised tourist attraction.

Incorporations

With the regional reform in Hesse on December 31, 1971, the city of Braunfels and the communities of Bonbaden , Neukirchen and Tiefenbach merged to form the city of Braunfels. On July 1, 1974, the communities of Philippstein and Altenkirchen were incorporated into Braunfels as part of the dissolution of the Oberlahnkreis by state law.

Territorial history and administration

The following list gives an overview of the territories in which Braunfels was located and the administrative units to which it was subordinate:

population

Population development

Braunfels: Population from 1834 to 2018
year     Residents
1834
  
 1,472
1840
  
 1,586
1846
  
 1,729
1852
  
 1,622
1858
  
 1,670
1864
  
 1,712
1871
  
 1,647
1875
  
 1,674
1885
  
 1,788
1895
  
 1,587
1905
  
 1,590
1910
  
 1,585
1925
  
 1,834
1939
  
 2,053
1946
  
 3,337
1950
  
 3,341
1956
  
 3,545
1961
  
 3.713
1967
  
 3,950
1970
  
 4.187
1972
  
 7,836
1976
  
 9,136
1984
  
 9,714
1992
  
 10,697
2000
  
 11,400
2004
  
 11,450
2010
  
 10,913
2015
  
 10,900
2017
  
 11,421
2018
  
 11,511
Data source: Historical municipality register for Hesse: The population of the municipalities from 1834 to 1967. Wiesbaden: Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt, 1968.
Further sources:; 1972 :; 1976 :; 1984 :; 1992 :; 2000, 2015 :; 2004 :; 2010:
The figures from 1976 contain the incorporated places after the regional reform in Hesse .

Religious affiliation

 Source: Historical local dictionary

• 1834: 1,388 Protestant residents, 9 Catholics, 6 Mennonites , 69 Jews
• 1961: 2363 Protestant and 1248 Catholic residents

politics

City Council

The local elections on March 6, 2016 produced the following results, compared to previous local elections:

Distribution of seats in the 2016 city council
    
A total of 37 seats
Parties and constituencies %
2016 		Seats
2016 		%
2011 		Seats
2011 		%
2006 		Seats
2006 		%
2001 		Seats
2001
CDU Christian Democratic Union of Germany 38 14th 34.8 13 37.5 14th 41.3 15th
SPD Social Democratic Party of Germany 27 10 30.7 11 32.6 12 35.2 13
Alliance 90 / GREEN Alliance 90 / The Greens 11 4th 17.6 7th 9.1 3 6.7 2
FDP / FWG Free Democratic Party / Free Community of Voters Braunfels 24 9 - - - - - -
FWG Free community of voters Braunfels - - 11.0 4th 12.3 5 9.8 4th
FDP Free Democratic Party - - 5.9 2 8.4 3 7.1 3
total 100.0 37 100.0 37 100.0 37 100.0 37
Voter turnout in% 47.5 43.5 45.9 52.5

mayor

Christian Breithecker

The mayoral election took place on October 28, 2018. Christian Breithecker prevailed in the first ballot with 61.2% of the vote. He is thus starting his first term of office. Official final result:

Applicants Political party % be right
Breithecker, Christian independent 61.2 3,338
Hollatz, Michael independent 17.0 928
Strength, Veronica AfD 8.4 459
Berg, Hans-Jürgen independently 7.6 413
Stürzlmayer. Thomas independent 5.7 313

coat of arms

Blazon : "In a shield divided by gold and blue, a red-tongued lion in confused colors."

The coat of arms awarded on August 10, 1937 by the President of the Province of Hesse-Nassau , adopts the shield of the Princely Solms family coat of arms based on a personal design by Chief President Philipp von Hessen and, since the Princely Family is still in bloom, changes it by dividing the shield and changing colors. A place was created under the protection of the Solms castle, to which the count issued a charter in 1607, and the ancestral castle is still the seat of the Princely House of Solms-Braunfels today . The city flag approved with the award of the coat of arms shows the city coat of arms in a field divided by blue and gold in such a way that the gold field is absorbed by the blue stripe and the blue field by the gold stripe.

Town twinning

Braunfels maintains partnership relationships with

The twin town of New Braunfels in Texas (United States) was founded by emigrants from Braunfels. The small town between Austin, TX and San Antonio, TX is now a tourist attraction that refers to its German roots and in which German-speaking shops and restaurants can be found to this day. A large amusement park and aqua park (" Schlitterbahn "), the relevant gastronomy ("Schnitzelhaus", "Grandma's House" ...) and a "genuine Oktoberfest" are said to have helped visitors from Germany against homesickness.

Culture and sights

Braunfels Castle
Half-timbered houses on the Schütt
Half-timbered houses on the market square
Solmser Hof, Lower Castle Gate and view of the castle
Schlossstrasse with the Palais Hartleben at the very back across

Buildings

  • Braunfels Castle : The last reconstruction of the castle, which was essentially medieval and redesigned in the Baroque style in the 17th century, took place from 1880 according to plans by the neo-Gothic master builder Edwin Oppler . There are numerous works of art by the Solms-Braunfels family in the castle , including a. Paintings by Dutch masters ( van Eyck ), the Hessian family of painters Tischbein , the art-historically significant Altenberger Altar, parts of which are in the Frankfurt Städel and the Bavarian National Museum in Munich, and the legendary Ring of St. Elisabeth of Thuringia . Areas to be visited include the castle courtyard, knight's hall , social rooms and picture gallery, sacred exhibits from the Altenberg monastery , the gallery with hunting paintings by Johannes Deiker and the Kanonenplatz. In addition, the Princely Family Museum and the Castle Church with its architectural history exhibition are accessible.
  • Old town: The inner old town with pronounced defensive systems is to be understood as a bailey-like extension around the castle, which protected the three valley settlements Tal, Vordertal and Hintertal. Today's Burgweg with simple half-timbered houses and two gates (Klepper-, Ritter- or Teufelstor in the north, Hintertal gate with wedding linden tree in the southeast) corresponds to the path through the Hintertal .
  • The market square in its current form was built after the city fire of 1679. Its restored half-timbered houses include a. the Solmser Hof (former community bakery and riding stables, now a restaurant), the house at the former Zwinger from 1691 (now a hotel) and the historic butcher's shop (later post office) from 1708. The market fountain dates from 1727. a. used as a set for the film James Bond 007 - Octopussy in 1982.
  • Other half-timbered houses from the late 17th and 18th centuries are on the Schütt above the market square. This is a built-up heap of ash, rubble and earth after the town fire of 1679. In the Schlossstrasse, the Meanderhaus (built in 1700, Rentkammer since 1806 ) and the Palais Hartleben (built in 1681) have also been preserved.
  • The former princely brewery east of the city is the birthplace of Friederike Münster , who later became the wife of pastor Theodor Fliedner .
  • The Philippstein castle ruins lie on a slope and are separated from the mountain by a neck ditch, which is now partially filled. The round keep, remains of the cellar and parts of the surrounding wall have been preserved from the castle.

Parks

  • The large spa park with lime tree avenue was laid out in the core around 1700 and expanded in the 19th century with various buildings in the neo-Gothic style. A prominent visitor in 1887 was the later 99-day emperor Friedrich III. The historic tree population of the park also includes sequoias . The foyer was rebuilt and modernized in 1990.
  • The zoo , which was laid out at the same time as the spa gardens under Count Wilhelm Moritz, was the former count's hunting ground. Roe deer and fallow deer , European mouflons and wild boars live in the approx. 55 hectare forest . The inn is the historic count's forester's house. Circular hiking trails lead into the nearby park landscape , and the organized game feedings are an attraction for the children.

Museums

  • The Dr. Kanngießer's Forest Museum is a collection of minerals, plants and fossils by the natural scientist, doctor and toxicologist Friedrich Kanngießer. It was established in 1916.
  • The Stadtmuseum Obermühle , a local history museum, is set up in a former grain mill (mentioned in 1450) that stands on the foundations of a fortified tower (mentioned in 1250). This makes it the oldest known building in the valley below the castle hill. The museum has existed since 1972 and contains exhibits from the local everyday life of craftsmen and farmers.
  • Not to be confused with the Stadtmuseum Obermühle is the Brauhaus Obermühle (brewery of the Braunfels Castle Brewery founded by Philip Wahl in 1868, which ceased production in 1996; this in turn should not be confused with the older princely brewery); it is an inn that has been brewing its own beer again since 2003.

Sports

  • The FSV Braunfels plays in the 2017/2018 season in the Central Football Association.
  • The Luftsportgemeinschaft Braunfels e. V. maintains an airfield north of the city with sailing, ultralight and motor glider operations.
  • The German Women's Chess Team Championships have been held annually since 1979 and took place in Braunfels for the 25th time in 2018.

Regular events

The medieval jousting spectacle has been held every two years on a summer weekend since 1994 (with interruptions); they are sponsored by the local action ring Braunfels e. V. and took place in 2007 for the 8th time. Organized fighting games, performances by jugglers and acrobats, showmen and other "traveling people" and pageants in historical costumes attract numerous tourists on both days. The entire spa park is transformed into a large knight camp.

Every year in February or March there is an Easter egg market in the “Haus des Gastes”, at which professional and amateur exhibitors sell their pieces relating to Easter customs.

Economy and Infrastructure

Optical industry

Braunfels played a significant role in the development of the optical industry in the Lahn-Dill area . In 1846 Carl Kellner laid the foundation stone for his optical institute there in a workshop in his parents' house, his father was the princely hut manager. The first short collaboration with Moritz Hensoldt in Braunfels took place in 1848/49 . In 1849 the final move and the establishment of the optical institute in Wetzlar, from which the Leitz company emerged. With the support of Prince Ferdinand zu Solms-Braunfels , Kellner's cousin and successor, Louis Engelbert, founded a microscope workshop together with Moritz Hensoldt in 1861 , which moved to the more easily accessible Wetzlar in 1865. This ended the history of the optical industry in Braunfels.

traffic

Former Braunfels-Oberndorf train station

Until 1985, a station on the Solmsbachtalbahn was maintained in neighboring Oberndorf (district of Solms ) . Today the Leun / Braunfels train station on the Lahn Valley Railway is the closest train station.

Also in Leun , the closest trunk road is reached with the federal highway 49 .

Clinics

There are three clinics in the relatively small town, namely

  • ATOS orthopedic clinic Braunfels, a special clinic for orthopedics
  • BDH Klinik Braunfels, a neurological acute and rehabilitation clinic sponsored by the BDH Bundesverband Rehabilitation
  • Klinikum Falkeneck, a branch of the Klinikum Wetzlar with the departments of internal medicine and geriatrics

Personalities

Honorary citizen

  • Heinrich Jockel, Princely Chamber Councilor a. D., received honorary citizenship in 1951
  • Prince Georg Friedrich (1890–1970) and Princess Beatrice zu Solms-Braunfels, were jointly appointed honorary citizenship in 1963
  • Rolf Ahrens, former director D. of the Neurological Clinic, was made an honorary citizen in 1980
  • Count Hans-Georg (1920–2003) and Countess Marie Gabrielle (1918–2003) von Oppersdorff Solms-Braunfels were granted honorary citizenship in 1986

sons and daughters of the town

Personalities who have worked on site

  • Johannes Deiker (1822–1895), German animal and hunting painter
  • Ulrich Sporleder (1911–1944), Protestant theologian, pastor of the Confessing Church in Marienburg and Marienwerder, officer in the German armed forces and resistance fighter against National Socialism
  • Mary Roos (* 1949), German pop singer
  • Tina York (* 1954), German pop singer
  • Dorkas Kiefer (* 1972), actress

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hessian State Statistical Office: Population status on December 31, 2019 (districts and urban districts as well as municipalities, population figures based on the 2011 census) ( help ).
  2. ↑ 78th meeting of the specialist committee for health resorts, recreational areas and healing fountains in Hesse on November 15, 2012 . In: State pointer for the state of Hesse . No. 7 , 2013, ISSN  0724-7885 , p. 309 .
  3. ^ City of Braunfels: "Braunfels in numbers" , accessed on May 28, 2019.
  4. ↑ a b c d Braunfels, Lahn-Dill district. Historical local dictionary for Hessen. (As of March 23, 2018). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  5. ↑ W. Cornelius: Sturm auf Braunfels - The revolt in the Solmser Land in April 1848. WNZ - Heimat an Lahn and Dill, No. 211 (1988).
  6. ^ F. Wieber: Niederbiel - Heimatschrift for the school inauguration on December 10, 1960. Wetzlar publishing house, 1960.
  7. ↑ Franz-Josef Sehr : Fire Department District Days around the turn of the century . In: Yearbook for the Limburg-Weilburg district 2000 . The district committee of the district of Limburg-Weilburg, Limburg-Weilburg 1999, ISBN 3-927006-29-7 , p. 187-189 .
  8. ^ Federal Statistical Office (ed.): Historical municipality directory for the Federal Republic of Germany. Name, border and key number changes in municipalities, counties and administrative districts from May 27, 1970 to December 31, 1982 . W. Kohlhammer GmbH, Stuttgart and Mainz 1983, ISBN 3-17-003263-1 , p. 380 .
  9. ↑ Law on the reorganization of the Limburg district and the Oberlahn district. (GVBl. II 330-25) of March 12, 1974 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): Law and Ordinance Gazette for the State of Hesse . 1974 No. 5 , p. 101 , § 14 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 809 kB ]).
  10. ↑ Gerstenmeier, K.-H. (1977): Hessen. Municipalities and counties after the regional reform. A documentation. Melsungen. P. 284
  11. ^ Michael Rademacher: German administrative history from the unification of the empire in 1871 to the reunification in 1990. State of Hesse. (Online material for the dissertation, Osnabrück 2006).
  12. ^ Local elections 1972; Relevant population of the municipalities on August 4, 1972 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1972 No.  33 , p. 1424 , point 1025 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 5.9 MB ]).
  13. ↑ Local elections 1977; Relevant population of the municipalities (item 1668) from December 15, 1976 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1976 No.  52 , p. 2283 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 10.3 MB ]).
  14. ^ Local elections 1985; Relevant population of the municipalities as of October 30, 1984 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1984 No.  46 , p. 2175 , point 1104 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 5.5 MB ]).
  15. ↑ local elections 1993; Relevant population of the municipalities as of October 21, 1992 . In: The Hessian Minister of the Interior (ed.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1992 No.  44 , p. 2766 , point 935 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 6.1 MB ]).
  16. ↑ Municipal data sheet : Braunfels. (PDF; 222 kB) In: Hessisches Gemeindelexikon. HA Hessen Agency GmbH ;
  17. ↑ Hessian municipal statistics, Edition 2 2005. Hessian State Statistical Office
  18. ↑ The population of the Hessian municipalities on June 30, 2010. (PDF; 552 kB) Hessisches Statistisches Landesamt, p. 26 , archived from the original on February 7, 2018 ; accessed on February 7, 2018 .
  19. ^ Result of the municipal election on March 6, 2016. Hessian State Statistical Office, accessed in April 2016 .
  20. ^ Hessian State Statistical Office: Result of the municipal elections on March 27, 2011
  21. ^ Hessian State Statistical Office: Result of the municipal elections on March 26, 2006
  22. ^ Direct elections in Braunfels, city. In: Statistics.Hesse. Hessian State Statistical Office , accessed on June 4, 2018 .
  23. ↑ Michael Losse: The Lahn: Burgen und Schlösser, pp. 74, 75
  24. ↑ Presentation of the history of Kellner and Hensoldt in Braunfels with pictures of a Braunfels microscope

Web links

Commons : Braunfels  - Collection of Images
Wikisource: Braunfels in Merian's Topographia Hassiae  - Sources and full texts
Wikivoyage: Braunfels  - travel guide
Wiktionary: Braunfels  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations